


You can see me

by silverwordswrites



Series: Daisuga Volleyball Week [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Daisuga Volleyball Week, Day 7: Shadows, M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 10:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8486272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverwordswrites/pseuds/silverwordswrites
Summary: Suga lives in the shadows, passed over by most of the population. One day, he receives a smile.Daisuga Volleyball Week day 7: Shadows





	

Daisuga Volleyball Week day 7:  ~~International~~ / Shadows

* * *

Sugawara Koushi travelled. He moved in the night hours, avoiding street lamps and other sources of light. In the day, he melted into the shadows, counting the hours before he could move freely again.

He sought answers, a cure, _anything_. He truly sought Shimizu Kiyoko, who was the sole person that could help him, but she moved too quickly for Suga to be able to find her. Despite this, he continually followed her movements, once catching her assistant Yachi Hitoka leaving a shop, arms full of ingredients for Kiyoko. But Suga was unable to stop her, confined as he was to the shadowy alley he was in.

He would find his answers, and he would be cured, _eventually._

Suga didn’t know why he started following the man. Kiyoko had moved on to a new place, and Suga hadn’t found out where yet, and so was lost in Tokyo. Perhaps it was out of boredom, then, that this particular man piqued his interest.

A young man, Suga guessed he was in his early twenties, was walking alone late at night. He had a book bag on his shoulder and one earphone in, and was reading something on his phone. It appeared he was on his way home from a late class at the nearby university. However, that’s not what intrigued Suga.

The man had passed by where Suga was hidden, but had spared him a glance and a smile before continuing on his way. Suga was taken aback; for the first time in _years_ , someone had noticed him. Most people passed him by, just another shadow in a dark alley, but this man had _seen_ him.

Suga was curious, and followed along behind him, keeping to the shadows.

* * *

Daichi was seeing him _everywhere_. A man, with white-blond, almost silver hair, and a mole dotted under his left eye. He had never seen him before in his life, until that one night when Daichi was walking home from class. Since then, the man had been cropping up everywhere; in the dark alley near his regular coffee shop, in the dim recesses of his lecture halls, even at a table in the far corner of the bar he frequented with Kuroo and Bokuto.

Always alone, always just watching those around him.

“Do you see that guy over there?” Daichi asked Kuroo one night while Bokuto flirted with the attractive bartender.

“Hmm?” Kuroo asked, looking around casually.

“In that darker corner, with the grey hair.”

“Why, have you found a new prospect? You’ve been single for too long my friend-”

“No, I just see him everywhere. I have no idea who he is.”

“Okay, who are we talking about? I don’t see anyone where you’re telling me to look.”

“He’s sitting right there, by himself, grey hair, wearing a-” Daichi faltered, because the longer he looked, the less clear he was on what colour shirt the guy was wearing. Even as Daichi looked, the edges of his body were blurring. Probably feeling Daichi’s stare, he looked up from his lap and met his eyes.

“Sawamura, you still with me buddy?” Daichi focused on Kuroo again, and even Bokuto was listening in. “There’s no one over there.”

Daichi looked back to the corner, but the table was vacant.

* * *

Suga bolted, hugging the walls of the bar until he could escape out the door in someone’s shadow. From there, he took to the alley next to the bar and curled in on himself. If he could, he’d be breathing hard.

He was being reckless. It was a bad sign that he had been noticed at first, but now this man, he’d learned his name was Sawamura, was actively looking for him and spotting him. Suga needed to find where Kiyoko had gone, he needed to get out of this town, he needed to fix whatever had been done to him.

But something was holding him back. Suga hadn’t known what it was before, but now, after making eye contact with the man he’d been following, Suga knew what it was.

He’d fallen for him. The way he acted with his friends, with strangers, with his classmates, how he would help old ladies and men cross the street and had helped a little boy find his mother after he had gotten lost, how he talked, walked, _was_. And he’d never even talked to the guy!

Perhaps, if things were different, if Suga wasn’t cursed to live in the shadows, he could act on this. He could go back into the bar, order a drink, and flirt with Sawamura until one of them had to leave, and hopefully get a phone number. He’d meet his friends, Kuroo and Bokuto he thought their names were, and become friends with them too. He could be happy with him, if Sawamura let him.

But things weren’t different, and Suga wasn’t entirely sure that he was _real_ at this point, made up of shadows and thoughts.

He curled up even tighter, pressed into the shadows with his back to the wall.

Later, it could have been hours or just a few minutes, he heard a familiar voice. Sawamura, Kuroo, and Bokuto had parted ways outside the bar, and Sawamura was walking past the alley Suga was currently hidden in.

Suga looked up from his arms just as Sawamura looked down the alley. He stopped, focused on Suga a bit more, then started walking towards him.

Suga scrambled to his feet and pressed further into the shadows, willing himself to just _disappear_ and for this to not be happening. Usually, he could melt into the shadows and that was that, but for some reason he was being grounded to a more solid form.

“Who are you?” Sawamura asked, stopping several feet away from Suga and bathed in a mixture of moonlight and city lights.

Suga opened his mouth to speak, but then realized he didn’t know if he _could_ speak. He had never had a reason to. He tentatively tried to form words, and his voice cracked from under-use.

“Sugawara Koushi.”

“Why are you following me?” Sawamura asked, crossing his arms and looking stern.

Suga blanched. “I-I didn’t mean to be! We keep ending up in the same place and-”

Sawamura snorted. “Don’t give me that. I’ve never seen you around here until a few weeks ago. You’ve been coming to some of my lectures, and I see you everywhere. So why are you following me?”

Suga didn’t have an answer. Sawamura sighed, sounding frustrated, and took a step forward. “If you won’t talk to me, I have a buddy who’s a cop who would be very interested to have a chat. C’mon.” He reached for Suga’s arm, hand extending into the shadows, and Suga panicked.

“No!” he exclaimed, just as Sawamura’s hand passed through his arm.

Sawamura looked at his hand for a few moments, then up at Suga. Suga was scared shitless, and it must have shown in his eyes as Sawamura backed off.

“How did you do that?” Sawamura asked. “Was that a magic trick or something?”

Suga shook his head, starting to feel sick. He sunk to the ground, lightheaded.

“You can see me.”

“What?”

Suga took a long moment before answering. “You can see me. That’s why I’ve been following you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sawamura asked.

“You’re the only one who can, apparently. I wanted to know why. I was intrigued.”

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say.”

Suga clenched his fists. “Your friends, Kuroo and Bokuto, they’ve never noticed me. Even when you were looking at me earlier, neither of them saw me.”

Sawamura’s eyes widened, but Suga wasn’t done. “Haven’t you noticed that no one spares me a glance when I’m around? In a bar, in a café, in the street, no one looks at me, because all they see are shadows.”

“So you’re trying to tell me you don’t actually exist? That you’re like a ghost or something?”

Suga shook his head. “I was once a living person. My mother, she liked to experiment with things, and I got tangled up in something bad involving her and a shaman. He took my mother’s life, and my corporeal body, condemning me to the shadows. I can only exist in darkness now; I _am_ darkness.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Suga laughed. “I suppose it would be a little crazy if you did.” Suga took a step forward and extended his hand toward Sawamura, wincing as his fingertips touched the light and disappeared.

To Sawamura, it must have looked like his hand was slowly disappearing. He was staring in awe where Suga’s arm ended abruptly in the light. To Suga, it felt like his hand was on fire, like he was being burned.

He quickly retracted his hand, holding it close to his chest to try to soothe the pain. “If my whole body did that, I would disappear completely, forever.”

“Okay, okay, Jesus Christ…” Sawamura was staring at him. “How did I get mixed up in all of this?”

Suga shrugged. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. You’re a good person, but there have been lots of good people who completely pass over me, so that’s not the only reason.”

“So, how do we reverse this?”

Suga’s head shot up to look at Sawamura’s face, eyes wide.

“Well, you said you were once human, and that you’re cursed, so that would imply you can be _un-cursed_.”

“You want to help me?” Suga asked, voice breaking a little.

Sawamura rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I’m part of this too, apparently, and it doesn’t seem like you deserve to live the rest of your life as shadows.” He muttered something else, too quiet for Suga to hear.

“You _really_ want to help me?”

Sawamura smiled and nodded. Suga couldn’t help but smile back.

“Okay, I’m looking for a woman named Shimizu Kiyoko. She runs a travelling natural healing shop and she’s the only one who can help me. She was in this town a few weeks ago, I’ve been following her to try and get her help, but I’m never able to.”

“If she left several weeks ago, why didn’t you follow?”

Suga didn’t know if he could blush, but if he could, he would be right now. “I, uh, well, I got distracted by trying to figure you out…” he mumbled, averting his gaze.

Sawamura laughed despite his confusion. “Fair enough. So if I help you find this Shimizu-san, that would be a step to getting you cured?”

“Yes. Thank you, Sawamura, for helping me. It’s been hard doing this on my own.”

Sawamura shrugged. “I should really be getting home; how will I find you again?”

At that moment, a flashlight swept through the alley and Suga faded into the remaining dark corners. “Sawamura, what are you doing?!” Kuroo’s voice called.

“We came back to find you. We know you’re an intimidating guy but don’t go wandering down alleys, you country bumpkin!” Bokuto added.

“Look for the shadows,” Suga whispered, and watched as Sawamura went to rejoin his friends.

* * *

Daichi spent the night looking up Shimizu Kiyoko. He managed to find her online, but her current location was several hours away by car; a car Daichi didn’t have, and a car Daichi wasn’t sure Sugawara would be able to go in anyway.

He checked the site religiously, and would update Sugawara when they met up every few days.

“She’s currently in the Miyagi prefecture,” Daichi told him one night almost a week later. They were sitting in a park, just out of range of the nearest lamp for Sugawara to be comfortable.

Sugawara stiffened. “Miyagi, you say?”

“Mhmm, that’s my home town. I went to high school in Sendai,” Daichi said.

“Me too! Well, Miyagi that is, but I wasn’t in Sendai,” Sugawara said, looking a little downcast. “I haven’t been back in a long time – too far away with not enough places to hide in the daytime.”

“You’ll be able to go back soon,” Daichi said, leaning back with his palms flat on the ground. “Once Kiyoko comes back to Tokyo, we’ll be able to go find her.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with helping me?” Sugawara asked, brushing some hair out of his face as he looked back at Daichi. “I know it’s a lot of work…”

“Seriously, Sugawara-san, it’s not a problem. Besides, you’re not bad company,” Daichi assured him.

Sugawara hesitated for a moment. Then, “Call me Suga.”

Daichi smiled. “Only if you call me Daichi.”

Sugawara, _Suga_ , grinned and nodded. “I can manage that.”

* * *

Two weeks later, Daichi pulled up Kiyoko’s website, expecting to see the same far-away location listed, but instead jumped to his feet and exclaimed “Suga!” as if calling out to him in the other room. Kuroo and Bokuto, who were studying in his living room, looked up at him, confused.

“Who is Suga?” Kuroo asked, eyebrows raised.

Daichi flushed, a little embarrassed. “Just a friend, he, uh, just messaged me.”

Bokuto leaned over to look at Daichi’s computer. “I didn’t know you were into natural healing, Sawamura.”

“I’m not! It’s for him, he’s been waiting for her to come back to Tokyo.” Well, it wasn’t a lie…

“Mhmm, whatever you say, Sawamura.”

When they went out that night, Daichi was on the lookout for Suga. Once he told him, he was planning on calling Kiyoko, to ask her to not leave until she helped Suga.

“Sawamura… Sawamura… Daichi!” Bokuto exclaimed, trying to get his attention. “You’ve been distracted all night, what gives?”

“Your new friend Suga not texting you or something?” Kuroo teased, elbowing him gently.

“Shut up,” Daichi muttered.

He didn’t see Suga that night, or the night after that.

Midterms were well under way, and in the time Daichi wasn’t studying, he looked for Suga.

Daichi was starting to get worried, because Kiyoko might move on to a new city before he was able to tell Suga she was here. It would only be a matter of time before she came back to Tokyo, but he a little disheartened that he and Suga might still have to meet in the shadows for another while.

In the month or so Daichi had known Suga, he had grown fond of him. Suga was gentle and kind, always putting others before himself, but could also sass Daichi like no one he had ever met (and he was friends with Oikawa). Things that seemed trivial when he did them; his smile, laugh, how his hair fell in his face and he tucked it behind his ear, the fondness of his expression when he spoke of his past… Daichi loved it all, and he wanted Suga to be happy. He wanted to be happy _with_ Suga.

Four days after Daichi had found out about Kiyoko coming to Tokyo, she was on her way again, heading south this time. He hadn’t seen Suga in that time, and Daichi almost felt as if he’d failed him.

Kuroo, Bokuto, and Oikawa dragged him out for post-midterm drinks, celebrating the end of hell and the beginning of their suffering with exams. They were in their usual spot at the bar, Oikawa regaling them with a tale from his trip to visit Iwaizumi in Miyagi, when the door opened and the room seemed to hush, though everyone was still talking.

Suga stood in the doorway, cheeks flushed pink and breathing hard. He looked around until he met Daichi’s gaze, and seemed to freeze.

Oikawa, noticing Daichi was no longer paying attention, stopped talking. “Ooh, he’s cute.”

Kuroo and Bokuto also turned around and mumbled their general agreement. “He’s prettier than you, Oiks,” Kuroo said, smirking at Oikawa. “Don’t you think so, Sawa-”

Daichi was already up and pushing through the crowd to Suga. When he reached him, he paused, then held out a hand. Suga smiled brilliantly and placed his hand in Daichi’s.

Solid. Warm. _Alive._

Without a moment more of hesitation, Daichi pulled Suga close and kissed him.

Suga melted into him, almost to try to reassure him that this was indeed happening, that Suga wasn’t just shadows molded together to form a person, that he was real and _breathing_. He wrapped his arms a little tighter around Suga’s waist, and Suga held the sides of Daichi’s face carefully but intently.

Daichi could hear catcalls from his friends behind them, but he didn’t care. Suga was in his arms, lips pressed against his own, and he could not have been happier.

When they finally broke apart, they held each other close, foreheads pressed together.

“You did it,” Daichi breathed, giddy with happiness.

“ _We_ did it. Sorry that I disappeared, I caught wind of Kiyoko and couldn’t wait around to tell you, ‘cause it took me so long to move around…” Suga looked down sheepishly.

“You’re here now,” Daichi said, placing a gentle hand on Suga’s cheek, before threading his fingers through his soft hair.

“I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> And Daisuga Volleyball Week comes to an end! This has been such a fantastic experience, so thank you for all of the support with kudos and comments, they really make my day!
> 
> Also huge thanks to vasilisain on Tumblr for organizing Daisuga Volleyball Week! Definitely go check them out, and the rest of the Daisuga Volleyball Week tag or blog (there's some good stuff over that way!)
> 
> Tumblr: silverwordswrites


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